I long ago came to the conclusion that I must still be growing, because every year it's a bit further to get up from kneeling down!
). Plan is to put it up at work, tucked away, and look after-able while I'm there. 
Used those in the past. Worth running gorilla tape round all the joints and strapping the whole thing down on either side with a ratchet strap thrown over the top, not too tight, also try and prevent water from settling in hollows on the roofHave had poly tunnel envy for a while. I'm never going to get one, or have the time or skill for a whole tunnel.
But I've just inherited one of the small walk in plastic tube greenhouses (walk in is a bit of an exaggeration
Would like some ideas for easy starter things, I definately want some tomatoes for pizza base use, having just bought a wood fired oven too.
Fancy some chillis, and courgettes too.
Just some ideas on varieties, that will cope with my lack of knowledge. ( Shropshire based) And best things to grow them in etc. pots, bags? Substrate?
Thanks in advance. Clueless but enthusiastic
Mark.
Was it the liner that was black one side and brown the other? They ALWAYS send us double the amount. Used it on shed roofs, bird houses, laying on the garden to kill weeds. Worth every penny!
Wow thank you for the comprehensive reply James. I think I'll start with some Jalapenos, a cherry tomato, and one of those sauce varieties Amish Paste or Polish Linguisa.I think the best advice is to grow what you prefer to eat. And if it's practical to save your own seeds, all the better, because they're getting more and more expensive. Real Seeds have instructions on their website covering saving seed from all sorts of vegetables if the idea appeals.
After growing lots of different varieties, we have settled on a cherry tomato variety called Garnet for salads and at the moment it's a toss-up between Amish Paste and the Polish Linguisa that Dani sent me seeds from for soups and sauces. I'm also experimenting this year a very early variety and some different colours. A plate of food that is a riot of colour always appeals to me.
The same applies for chiles. There's no point growing something like a Scotch Bonnet or Habanero if they're too hot for you to enjoy eating. The majority of my chiles are jalapenos, because we eat bucketloads of them, and cayenne because we dry them on strings and give them to friends and family at Christmas or blitz them into chile flakes for use in cooking. Last year I added Black Hungarian chiles which are similar to jalapenos, but start deep purple/black and eventually ripen to a beautiful glassy scarlet. It's the colour thing again
For sweet peppers I prefer pointy varieties rather than traditional bells, so always have the red and yellow Corno di Toro and after that it's more a case of what I can find that's purple, black, cream or chocolate. The more unusual colours don't really seem to be as popular and it can be tricky to find them, but scorched and peeled they can look great on pizzas for instance. Or even just raw in salads.
For preference I'd grow courgettes outdoors. Almost all the squashes are pretty boisterous plants and in a polytunnel they tend to take over. A cucumber trained up a string might work though, depending on the size of the tunnel. I'm still trying to find a variety that really works for us.
Augergines can be a bit marginal in polytunnels in my opinion. If you have a relatively warm microclimate then it might work. Here they really need a greenhouse to perform well, but we're much more exposed than many. The local town (barely two miles away) sits in a "bowl" protected by hills and despite being little more than ten metres lower than us the protection that affords allows people who live there to grow stuff that I really struggle with.
I grow everything no-dig, so in late spring before the plants go in the ground in the polytunnel I spread compost over the top of the soil (ideally my own, but every so often I have to buy in green waste compost from the council subcontractor) and then transplant everything into that. I sow hardy lettuces and mustards, chervil, dill, coriander and similar in modules in late August and transplant those straight into the polytunnel as soon as the tomatoes and peppers come out (usually late October here). Last winter was awkward and I didn't get the timing quite right, perhaps because it was so dull for so long, but for quite a few years that has kept us in salad leaves through the winter by picking one or two leaves off each plant and allowing them to regrow. The plants get removed once it's warm enough for lettuces go into the ground outdoors and then the cycle starts again.
As enrico says, make sure the cover is well fixed down. In almost twenty years I've never had a problem with my 30'x14' tunnel, but the small ones are often made to a price and may need better anchorage than you expect or than has been provided. I bought an "emergency" 6mx3m one last Summer in case we needed it for housing the chickens under cover this winter, but the winds have lifted the cover off the frame at least four times this year.
James
Just to be cheerful: it's likely to get worse - it's that sarcopenia - I can't kneel now unless I have a spade handy to dig in to pull myself up on.
I marvel watching children leaping from the ground without a thought. Took it for granted at that age......On the bright side I'm fitter than I was 20yrs ago thanks to hillwalking & spent my 60th last April at 5800m "high camp" before summiting a 6475m mountain the next morning.Just to be cheerful: it's likely to get worse - it's that sarcopenia - I can't kneel now unless I have a spade handy to dig in to pull myself up on.
I can't find reference to that spelling of sarcopenia - a term only proposed in 1989 according to Wiki. The condition with either spelling is not mentioned in NHS list of medical terms.
UK spelling Vs American.
Many thanks.
grow what is not available in shops, better tastes and value eg Pennard plants https://www.pennardplants.com/I think the best advice is to grow what you prefer to eat. And if it's practical to save your own seeds, all the better, because they're getting more and more expensive. Real Seeds have instructions on their website covering saving seed from all sorts of vegetables if the idea appeals.
After growing lots of different varieties, we have settled on a cherry tomato variety called Garnet for salads and at the moment it's a toss-up between Amish Paste and the Polish Linguisa that Dani sent me seeds from for soups and sauces. I'm also experimenting this year a very early variety and some different colours. A plate of food that is a riot of colour always appeals to me.
The same applies for chiles. There's no point growing something like a Scotch Bonnet or Habanero if they're too hot for you to enjoy eating. The majority of my chiles are jalapenos, because we eat bucketloads of them, and cayenne because we dry them on strings and give them to friends and family at Christmas or blitz them into chile flakes for use in cooking. Last year I added Black Hungarian chiles which are similar to jalapenos, but start deep purple/black and eventually ripen to a beautiful glassy scarlet. It's the colour thing again
For sweet peppers I prefer pointy varieties rather than traditional bells, so always have the red and yellow Corno di Toro and after that it's more a case of what I can find that's purple, black, cream or chocolate. The more unusual colours don't really seem to be as popular and it can be tricky to find them, but scorched and peeled they can look great on pizzas for instance. Or even just raw in salads.
For preference I'd grow courgettes outdoors. Almost all the squashes are pretty boisterous plants and in a polytunnel they tend to take over. A cucumber trained up a string might work though, depending on the size of the tunnel. I'm still trying to find a variety that really works for us.
Augergines can be a bit marginal in polytunnels in my opinion. If you have a relatively warm microclimate then it might work. Here they really need a greenhouse to perform well, but we're much more exposed than many. The local town (barely two miles away) sits in a "bowl" protected by hills and despite being little more than ten metres lower than us the protection that affords allows people who live there to grow stuff that I really struggle with.
I grow everything no-dig, so in late spring before the plants go in the ground in the polytunnel I spread compost over the top of the soil (ideally my own, but every so often I have to buy in green waste compost from the council subcontractor) and then transplant everything into that. I sow hardy lettuces and mustards, chervil, dill, coriander and similar in modules in late August and transplant those straight into the polytunnel as soon as the tomatoes and peppers come out (usually late October here). Last winter was awkward and I didn't get the timing quite right, perhaps because it was so dull for so long, but for quite a few years that has kept us in salad leaves through the winter by picking one or two leaves off each plant and allowing them to regrow. The plants get removed once it's warm enough for lettuces go into the ground outdoors and then the cycle starts again.
As enrico says, make sure the cover is well fixed down. In almost twenty years I've never had a problem with my 30'x14' tunnel, but the small ones are often made to a price and may need better anchorage than you expect or than has been provided. I bought an "emergency" 6mx3m one last Summer in case we needed it for housing the chickens under cover this winter, but the winds have lifted the cover off the frame at least four times this year.
James
I like Sungold. It fruits very early and has lots of flavour. Makes a nice orange pasta sauce.
